This research project aimed to identify socioeconomic factors that correlate with maternal stress levels. A survey of 23 mothers in India found lower stress levels correlated with greater family support and income. Stress decreased as household chores responsibilities decreased. Stress also correlated with occupational status, as non-working mothers with degrees reported less stress. The results provide insight to encourage family support and extended maternity leave. The researchers seek to expand the study internationally and examine how factors interact to impact stress levels. The goal is to support evidence for social and political reforms that help new mothers.

1. Identifying Key Correlational Socio-economic Conditions to Post-
Partum Maternal Stress
Brianna Scott, Devashree Dave
Abstract
Introduction
•Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University(2009). Maternal
Depression Can Undermine the Development of Young Children:
Working Paper No. 8. <http.//www.developingchild.harvard.edu>
•National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (2004). Young
Children Develop in an Environment of Relationships: Working Paper
No. 1. Retrieved from www.developingchild.harvard.edu
Acknowledgements
I sincerely thank Dr. Nupur Shah in all of her help
In distributing the surveys to our patient population
In India and providing us with the results.
Current Study Analysis and Significance
Graphs Stress(X-axis) – Family Support (Y Axis)
Expanding on our Research: Developing This Project Further References
Current Study-
•Our current data shows that there is a pretty strong inverse relationship between the level of stress in our participants and the amount of family support they received.
•We also noticed a linear relationship between maternal stress level
•and family income.
•We noticed an inverse relationship between the amount of household chores a woman was responsible for and her stress level.
•There was also a strong correlation between maternal stress level and the occupation status. We noticed that women who were not working post-partum but had professional degrees, reported
low stress levels compared to ones who were working.
•Social Significance
•Since we observed a strong inverse correlation between the amount of family support, household chores a woman was responsible for and her stress level we would like to encourage
mothers to hire help and stay close to family members during early years of their kids.
•Political Significance
•Since we observed a direct correlation between employment leave and low post-partum stress levels we would like to emphasize the importance of maternity leave and recommend the
Swedish model of employment.
We would like to continue with this project in the future by expanding our research in the following
areas:
1)We would like to carry out a latitudinal survey in the US, Mexico, Spain and Sweden as well in
order to pursue a comparative analysis between these countries.
2)We would like to further examine these coexisting conditions of family support, employment leave,
family size and a woman’s household responsibilities s to analyze if they are directly impacting
maternal stress level.
Graphs Stress (X-axis) –Family Income (Y Axis)
Stress (X-axis) –Household chores(Y Axis)
Stress (X-axis) –Occupational Status(Y Axis)
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FamilySupportLevel
Maternal Stress Level
Family Support Level
Linear (Family Support
Level)
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90%
100%
0 2 4 6 8
HouseholdChoreResponsibility
Maternal Stress Level
Household Chores
Linear (Household Chores)
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$5,000.00
$10,000.00
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$25,000.00
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AnnualHouseholdIncome
Maternal Stress Level
Family Income
Linear (Family Income)
Research shows that there is a direct correlation between a mother’s
mental health and her child’s cognitive, emotional, and behavioral
development. This research project served to identify the socioeconomic
factors that have a direct correlation to maternal mental health,
particularly maternal stress levels.
We surveyed 23 participants between the ages of 23 to 51 in
Ahmedabad, India to inquire about their post-partum stress level and
identified the coexisting socio-economic conditions which could have had
an alleviating/increasing impact on their stress level.
Our results showed a significant correlation between reduced maternal
stress level with increasing family support and family income, and
showed an inverse relationship between maternal stress level and the
percentage of household chores these mothers were responsible for.
Additionally, there was a direct relationship between maternal
occupational status and stress.
Our results give us a strong foundation from which we wish to expand
upon specifically by studying these correlational factors in greater detail;
surveying maternal stressors and alleviators in countries such as the US,
Sweden, and Mexico for a latitudinal comparison and to increase our
patient survey size.
Our current study serves to facilitate our ultimate goal of providing
supporting evidence regarding the need for extended family support
(evidenced by the Indian model) and extended maternity leave
(evidenced by the Swedish model) in order to drive positive social and
political reform.